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Clinton Knocks Lions Out of Post-season Play7/13/2007CLINTON 15, LINN-MAR 10

The Clinton River Kings got revenge on Linn-Mar in the 2007 Class 4A Sub-State 1st round. Last year the Lions beat Clinton 7-0 en route to its first State Tournament berth since 1995. This year, the River Kings outslugged the Lions 15-10 and advanced to the second round against North Scott.

Linn-Mar ace Ben Strellner (2-4) was hit hard in four innings work, giving up 12 runs on 13 hits. Mitch Mahmens gave up three runs on five hits in three innings of relief.

Linn-Mar jumped out to a 1-0 in the first inning, when Jarad Bell scored on a Brandon Morey ground out. Clinton scored four times in the 2nd inning, highlighted by three singles, a double and a triple. Three of the four runs scored with two outs to give the River Kings a 4-1 lead. Linn-Mar responded in the bottom of the 2nd when Zach Larison led off the inning with a solo HR. A single run by Clinton in the 3rd inning made it 5-2, but the Lions came back once again, scoring twice to make the score 5-4. Ben Strellner and Chad Meier each had RBI in the inning.

The big blow came in the top of the 4th when the River Kings scored seven runs on seven hits and two Lion errors to make the score 12-4. A single run in the bottom half cut the lead to 12-5, but the River Kings scored once in the 5th and twice in the 6th to take a 15-5 lead. Facing the end of their season, the Lions battled to score five times in the inning to make the score 15-10. Meier once again came up big with a 2-run single, followed by RBI singles by Sam Tracy and Tim Keleher. Trailing 15-10 in the bottom of the 7th, Linn-Mar loaded the bases with one out. A fly-out and a strikeout ended the threat and the season for the Lions.

Chad Meier had three hits and three RBI for Linn-Mar (14-25). Tim Keleher was 3 for 3 in his final game, while Ryan Cox reached 50 hits on the season with a 2 for 3 effort. Zach Larison had two hits, including the solo HR in the 2nd inning.